Maybe it will turn out to be a good hire, but my instincts are not that way. Looks like the Big East has its successor to Mike Tranghese.
The Big East Conference is expected to name John Marinatto, the league’s second-ranking official, to succeed Commissioner Michael Tranghese at season’s end.
This StoryA conference call has been scheduled for 11 a.m. today “to make a significant announcement concerning the direction of the conference,” league officials announced.
Any guess as to what school John Marinatto was associated before becoming part of the BE hierarchy?
Marinatto graduated in 1979 from Providence, where he worked as a student manager for Dave Gavitt, who became the first commissioner of the Big East. He later worked for Tranghese at Providence, where he performed myriad jobs in the athletic department, including sports information director, ticket manager, and as the athletic director for 14 years.
The new face of the Big East. The only way this would have been more incestuous would have been if Dan Gavitt had been given the job.
Remember, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg was part of the search committee that made this choice. This choice, though, smacks of the search group just taking Mike Tranghese’s recommendation. I really think the Big East needed to go outside of their office. Definitely outside Providence.
Nordenberg is about as athletic friendly as you can have as a University. I don’t think he will get booted any time soon, and if he does it would be terrible for the athletics. The guy is so supportive of his athletic programs
He got lucky with Dixon, but we won’t be able to keep him for much longer.
We’re back to the same A-hole athletic director that brought us that Steely McBeam thing and took away the fight song. Nice hire there idiot.
Yet more importantly, he’s bad for the university. He has absolutely no vision of where Pitt is going for the future. He’s reactionary. He’s demonstrated no ability to effectively negotiate with the city planners.
He should have been canned years ago.
In 1998, Pitt was not even mentioned in the top FIFTY public universities. And now in 2008, Pitt is listed as #20, among the nation’s best public universities. In 1991, Pitt’s endowment was $250 million. Today it is over $2.25 billion.
Think back to 1998. Where were our football and basketball programs? We were a couple years removed from Majors II (and a 72-0 loss to Ohio State) and ended up at 2-9 in Harris’ second year. The basketball team ended up at 14-16, and played in the fitzgerald field house.
Nordenberg took his position in 1995. Harris was hired in 1996 and took Pitt to five straight bowls. Ben Howland and Jamie Dixon were hired in 1999, and in the 2000 season, Pitt went 19-14. The very next year Pitt was 29-6, and our reign in the top 25 began. In 2002 the Pete was finished, and in 2004 Wannstedt was hired.
Football: Ranked #21, currently 7-2
Basketball: Ranked pre-season #5
I think he is great.
That Chancellor Nordenberg sure is an idiot, what with the fact that he has enhanced the reputation of the University in every quantifiable way, specifically in terms of graduate program prestige and research.
I am sure that PNC, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, UPMC, and the Heinz Foundation sure regret having him serve on their board of directors.
The president or chancellor of a University is like a CEO. Those of you who think that the only way to judge him is by football or basketball wins and losses are misguided to say the least.
To say he has ‘no vision’ for the University is a ridiculous statement considering the number of properties in and around Oakland that they have been quietly buying up as well as more major investments such as the renovation and construction of the Masonic Temple/Alumni Hall and Sennot Square among others.
There is no disputing that the value of a Pitt degree has increased under his tenure.
because fans are made during WINNING SEASONS. the 70s and 80s were great times for pitt football! the season isn’t even over yet, but it looks like good ol wannstache is finally taking us in the right direction. if we finally get some consistency, the fans will come.
look how wild the oakland zoo is. a lot of people have said that the zoo is one of the best student sections in the nation! wow
a winning team makes people proud. we just need to win, and i think nordy can be thanked that we have one of the best basketball programs in the country, and our football is going in the right direction
That said I am against a playoff (and against the BCS system) Also I think they should eliminate overtime in college football.
I completely agree with James and Johnny and their assessment of Nordenberg. The University has made leaps and bounds under his direction and there isn’t much room for argument to the contrary.
On Steve Peterson, I think he has also done a pretty respectable Job. I’m not sure what you were looking for if you are calling the hiring of Walt Harris a “debacle”. Harris did do a decent job while he was here and turned a program that had deteriorated into oblivion to at least respectable. I think he might have taken Pitt as far as he was capable of taking them and that’s why the University decided to move on. As for Wanny, the jury is still out, but you can’t argue with the fact that things seem to be headed in the right direction.
As for Dixon, I think there are few places in the country that he’d rather be. Both Nordenberg and Peterson understand what he means to the program and I believe they are committed to keeping him in Pittsburgh. Not to mention the initial hiring of Howland was brilliant.
Overall, I don’t think you can really argue much against the administration. They are committed to the long term success of the University and have been on the right track for a long time.
As for the uniforms: Bring the old “Pitt” script back with the new colors.
The block Pitt looks excellent, the colors are great. The panther logo sucks, so that is one thing I’d like to see improved (and no, the dino-cat certainly does not count as “improved”).
I actually completely agree with you. The Block PITT looks great. It’s very sleek, modern and unique. I think our colors could be better… but the white jerseys look good, ha.
I’m a junior, and most of the students I’ve talked to (about the subject) really like the block pitt, and don’t care about the script pitt.
I also completely agree with you about the dinocat, it looks dumb. It’s better than the otter, but still, not good.
I think they should de-emphasize the panther logo. They should remove it from all jerseys and just have the block PITT on them. It looks so much classier. So much more like a great program.
Look at some of these great programs that do not have their mascot on their jerseys: Ohio State, USC, Michigan, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Alabama, Georgia…. Does anyone even know what the Michigan Wolverine looks like???
Also, for those who are praying for a glorious return to Pitt script, it WILL NOT HAPPEN! Block PITT is EVERYWHERE. On signs and flags at Heinz, on the Pete lobby and court, on ALL of the university buses/shuttles, maintenance trucks and landscaping trucks… etc. Our current colors are everywhere too.
Look, the block PITT is our school logo. During the 100th backyard brawl, people saw block PITT. During the Madison Square Garden victory over Duke, people saw block PITT. On ALL of the rankings websites, on ESPN recaps and analysis, on billboards and in commercials, block PITT is there.
We have two top 25 programs right now, one being top 5. This seems to be a new era in Pitt athletics, and block signifies this new era. We really should try to embrace it, and be proud of this incredible university.
Pitt needs a recognizable logo and recognizable colors. Otherwise Pitt is WVU/Navy/Michigan/Notre Dame/any other team whose fans wear navy blue sweatshirts. The old royal blue and mustard yellow may not have been the most appealing but they sure are distinctive.
-the blue uniforms look great on the field. may i remind you of another team that doesn’t have to keep their uni’s the same as they were in the 1950’s but are doing fine… texas tech
-young recruits love the alternate uniforms and different combo’s that we can put together so i say we keep the colors and many alternate jerseys and pants
We have won 9 football national championships, 1 Heisman Winner, and 4 Pro Football hall of famers.
All of that was accomplished in the mustard yellow/royal blue jerseys. That is Pitts identity. The football team should use those.
The basketball teams identity is the block Pitt.
Any schools use two different types of uni’s?
UCLA has two logos, their basketball is block UCLA, and football is script UCLA, interestingly enough!
listen to the sound..”mustard yellow”
almost makes me want to gack… i mean yack, sorry
How the hell did we get from the head of the BE to uniform colors, AGAIN?
Is the BE going to split up into two conferences or what? Seeing as though we hired a basketball school guy…
It’s what the Steelers and now Penguins have started doing.
Life is about happy mediums people, happy mediums!
God, I hate having 3 bye weeks. But thank God we have topics like “Script Pitt Uniforms” to keep us busy during the byes!!!
And hey, if this gets old, we can spend next week engaging in a spirited “on campus football stadium” discussion!
Almost forgot, I graduated in the early 90’s and miss the Pitt script! As someone else posted, Pitt looks like Notre Dame, Navy, etc… Currently, there is no distinct difference in uniforms.
I just think if the Big East hads 10 football teams and 12-14 basketball teams that would be great. You could divide the basketball league east and west and have only the top ten teams get in the Garden evey year. In the east it could be Rutgers, UConn, Villnova, Georgetown, ECU, UCF,and Providence. And in the west it could be PITT, WVU, Louisville, Cinncy, USF,and Notre Dame.
Oh wait that leaves me with one extra team from northern Indiana. Maybe they should consider getting ride of them, because after all they only steal a big east bowl, which is what they did two years ago.
“We have won 9 football national championships, 1 Heisman Winner, and 4 Pro Football hall of famers.”
That statement is patently false. In fact Pitt has competed under and won far more championships and accolades with a navy blue and gold scheme and a block letter PITT logo. I can’t stand when people make up history to serve their own purpose, so I gotta say it: bullshit.
I don’t even know Todd Gack, but to defend his statement. Please tell me what championships we have won under the navy blue scheme? Besides upsetting WVU and one major bowl appearance, what else has been accomplished in recent times.
Just for the record I don’t think it has anything to do with the uniforms. It all comes down to the coaching and players on the field, no matter what damm color uniform they are wearing.
Maybe you’re referring fencing or Frisbee golf when you say “That statement is patently false. In fact Pitt has competed under and won far more championships and accolades with a navy blue and gold scheme and a block letter PITT logo”.
Come on ChrisA, you’re better than that.
Thats 8 out of our 9 National Championships in Football with a block PITT and navy blue color scheme
link to nationalchamps.net
The script didn’t come around until the 70’s, and before that our colors were Navy blue.
Some of you don’t even know the history of your own school
That said, there is no argument that I hate more than Script Pitt, except maybe on-campus stadiums.
Stuart was right; let’s move the tenor of the thread back to the team and the hunt for the Big East championship.
The mustard and blue script was only worn since 1973. It is obviously a product of 1970’s design. Out of all of Pitt’s football championships (’76, ’37, ’36, ’34, ’31, ’29, ’18, ’16 & ’15) only 1976 was won with something other than navy/gold. 1929 had a navy and gold scheme, but it was that weird winged stripe shirt (like the Eagles’ recent throwback jersey) They wore that scheme from 1927-1930
link to farm2.static.flickr.com
*All photos are courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh Archives Service Center and they reserve all rights to these photos.
Here are a few examples of older uniforms:
Jock Sutherland in 1918
link to farm2.static.flickr.com
1928 vs WVU
link to farm2.static.flickr.com
1931 Team
link to farm4.static.flickr.com
1934 – one of Pitt’s Nat. champinship years:
link to farm4.static.flickr.com
1937 – Another title year
link to farm2.static.flickr.com
1956 TD vs Georgia Tech in the Gator Bowl
link to farm2.static.flickr.com
1960 Ditka wearing navy blue
link to farm2.static.flickr.com
If you really want to get technical, the above statement isn’t true. Before 1976, the most recent consensus national championship was 1937. There were certainly no helmets with block lettered “PITT” on them in those days as the hard shell/plastic helmet wasn’t even invented until 1939 or so. Players either wore leather helmets or nothing at all. Not to mention most anyone who even remembers the winning ways of Pitt in the 30’s is probably either not around any more or not long for this world.
In fact, since the inception of the modern helmet (hard shell not leather) the “Pitt” Script has been displayed on the side of the helmet from 1973 to 1996, approximately 24 seasons and much longer than any other helmet logo Pitt used. So naturally, this is what many Pitt fans associate with the program and the glory days of the 70’s and early 80’s.
So if you want to argue about who knows the history of the school you should probably avoid manipulating facts to support your argument.
I actually like the Pitt Script vs Block Pitt argument though.
I think everybody wins if we just have a game or two a year where we “turn back the clock” and break out the old school unis.
I’ll be happy with whatever we’re wearing as long as we’re winning though.
It appears you are correct regarding the color scheme though. Thanks for the info.
I don’t think there’s any question that the block letter PITT was the school’s main athletic logo. Of course it wasn’t patched on the side of leather helmets, but the block PITT logo it is clearly evident in these photos of other Pitt sports. Also, Pitt won 2 basketball titles wearing the block PITT.
1938 Baseball
link to farm4.static.flickr.com
and 1929 Cross Country
link to farm4.static.flickr.com
* All photos courtesy of University of Pittsburgh Archives Service Center – all rights reserved.
Baseball or Cross Country are never really going to be the face of the University like football or basketball.
The bottom line is that the Pitt Script is undeniably connected with success on the football field and that it probably still has a place in the current era.
I know the jersey # thing was intended as a joke, but I have done a lot of work compiling old photos of Pitt uniforms.
By 1930 #’s were standard on Pitt uniforms.
At the risk of sounding like the internet know-it-all (or maybe I’ve already gained that designation?)..
The earliest photo I have showing #’s on uniforms is from Pitt’s 1904 season. Some years provide no conclusive photographic evidence of uniform numbers, but the championship years where they definitely do sport uniform numbers are: 1916 and 1931, 1934, 1936, 1937 and 1976. So for at least 6 out of 9 NC years Pitt had uniform #s.
Hail to Pitt…
I was not manipulating the facts, as ChrisA has shown.
Block PITT was used more than just on football helmets back then
I personally prefer the script, but I’m willing to compromise on it. It’s just a uniform.
Now THAT is cool… thanks for the links to these sites.
Block Pitt was prevalent nowhere on our football uniforms when we won the first 8 nat’l titles. Thus, it was never really associated with our University’s success on the football field (although it seems the colors were). So making it seem like these guys were running around with leather helmets and a block “Pitt” embroidered on the side is manipulating.
Just found this clip of the 1937 Rose Bowl. It’s about 10 mins. long, but at halftime you can see the team leaving the sideline wearing block letter Pitt jackets. Just sayin’.
